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Many students struggle with spelling, but it can also be a struggle for a teacher to make sure that each student in the class is participating. Placing students in pairs to pronounce, spell and correct their own errors can reduce anxiety for being singled out and can allow you to target certain vocabulary words during a lesson.

This activity uses teaching materials that make it fun for children to put together words from their component letters (and associated phonemes).

1) Prepare your materials and lists

After your lesson presenting new spellings and vocabulary, you can prepare lists of the words in a sheet of paper made at random. Each word should be numbered, because your students will be reading it out loud later and you need to make sure that each group is working on different words. For more ideas, you could look at some spelling worksheets to group your words by sounds and common problem areas.

Then, on another sheet of paper, type up the entire alphabet in a grid with large fonts. Leave enough room around the letters so you can cut them out into even squares.

Make enough copies for your class.

2) Print, cut, and separate

If your printer can print onto cardboard or cardstock, all you need to do is to cut out the letters into individual squares. Else, you may have to spend some more time gluing them into pieces more easily handled.

If you have access to a small card-sized laminating machine, you may be better off laminating each letter individually. If you can laminate an entire sheet at once, then cut the sheet only after lamination and glue each letter square together. It will save on materials, if not on time.

Now separate the letters and the guides into envelopes. Make sure each envelope has enough letters to form all the words in the sheet.

3) Providing instructions

Break up your class into groups of two. Give each group a word list and an envelope of letters. Explain how the activity works:

One person will be reading the words out loud.

The other person will use the letters to spell them out.

The one reading out loud may not help with the spelling. They have to pronounce the word clearly several times, then move on once their partner has laid out the letters into a word.

After the words have all been spelled out, the one who was not reading aloud takes the paper to see if they made any errors that need to be corrected. Now they can switch roles with another word list.

4) Monitor participation and assist as necessary

Walk around the room to keep the students focused on their tasks and communicate that cheating is undesirable and unnecessary. Errors are fine as long as they are corrected in a timely manner. The class-wide activity should only take about fifteen minutes at the most.

This method can be used for any spelling or vocabulary learning list you may need to review through the year. Try also using colorful spelling books instead of lists, to increase their enjoyment of the activity.

About the author:

Emily Ko is co-founder of ReachingTeachers.com.au and a passionate primary school teacher. She loves to hear from teachers, tweet her at @reach_teachers or like her page on Facebook for updates and special offers.

As teachers, we may often feel as if dealing with our workload is like trying to keep our head above the rising tide. It has lulls and it has its moments of frantic activity, but what’s most tiring is how any free time can’t be enjoyed in the dread of the upcoming piles of lesson plans, tests to grade, student performance to evaluate, and to find new ways of improving learning outcomes as the parents and the administration demand.

But does it have to be this way? Teachers have long struggled with the sheer lack of hours in the day and the budget for tools make lessons truly memorable and effective for students. Teachers do not need to solve everything alone, however. Now there are new apps, websites and online education technology tools that can help educators organize classroom activities, automate workflows, and encourage student involvement in civic affairs.

Here are twenty of the most useful new apps, websites and online communities for teachers this 2015.

Learning resources

HowStuffWorksThe website hosts thousands of topics with video and illustrations to allow anyone learn more about how everything works. Find answers on everything from “What if we had no Moon?” to “How does bug spray work?” and other interesting questions that will get your students interested in expanding their breadth of knowledge.

ExploratoriumSan Francisco’s Museum of Science, Art and Human Participation, Exploratorium has a website with plenty of links to fun online science activities.

HippocampusThe Monterey Institute for Technology and Education provides a voluminous free selection of multimedia content on general education subjects to high school and college students.

Fun BrainAn online games portal with a focus on games that have educational value. Teachers can find games and curriculum teaching aids that will help with whatever subject matter.

Cool MathHere you’ll find an extensive collection of educational games making the learning of math fun for all ages. It also contains activity templates and suggestions for teachers and parents about encouraging good study habits.

Spelling CityFree vocabulary, spelling, writing, and other language learning games for all ages. It also offers a mobile app for easier access to its teaching resources on the go.

MusicTheoryFree animated lessons, exercises and tools for instructing the fundamentals of music in a quick, easy-to-use website. Also provides mobile apps for offline access.

Raz KidsThe site provides a full reading curriculum course with hundreds of animated audio books, interactive quizzes, and detailed online assessments for teachers and parents about particular reading skills.

Scholastic Kids Press Corps
News by kids for kids, it encourages students to learn reporting, express themselves better, and for teachers to involve current events into their teaching. Students get to establish themselves

iCivicsTeaches students about civics and encourages them to participate in democracy by playing the role of the president and the government.

Collaborize ClassroomA free online collaborative platform that enhances classroom instruction with the ability to set up discussions, upload resources, launch projects, and creates automatic reports and student portfolios that make grading easier.

WeeblyA free and easy way for teachers and students to create a classroom site and blog to connect with students and parents about their scholastic activities. Students can also sign up for free and create free sites of their own.

Challenge Yourself to BlogThis site challenges and instructs students to create and blog and develop a world-wide audience, and to be inspired and inspire others by showing what they can do instead of just limiting the results of the projects to their teacher and classmates.

SchoologyA learning management system that makes online education a collective effort by empowering teachers to share and collaborate on any device. It provides website and cloud hosting, course templates and shared resources, and social media features.

EdmodoWith 42 million teachers, students and parents, it is a collaboration hub that provides customized online classrooms and connects teachers to share their methods for improved learning outcomes.

Epic Ed Community This community assists and empowers educators, technology facilitators and school administrations as they undergo the digital transition within their schools and districts.

LifepulpBecome inspired by this social networking site that aims to help individuals better their lives and reach their goals through its assembly of motivational and inspirational content. Find real-life stories and advice to lift you up when things start to seem overwhelming.

PLP NetworkA community that concerns itself with Problem-based Learning and fostering initiative and inquiry learning from students, they present a collection of connected learning practices that can be applied immediately into the classroom.

Can you think of any not included in this list? Post your comments below so all teachers can be more effective!

Emily Ko is a primary school teacher, co-founder of http://ReachingTeachers.com.au, and a regular contributor to top education sites around the world.

Raiser & Kenniff, PC, is a premier NYC personal injury law firm, with over 30 years of combined experience, helping victims of personal injuries.

Surface Genies hybrid franchise for under 1,000.00 allows you to start your own tile and grout cleaning, hard surface restoration business at a very affordable investment. With our business model you are able to learn the trade while earning a part time income!

A grass roots band of philanthropists are assuring that consumers are protected from VIRAL and BACTERIAL threats from pre-handled beverage cans. They also insure that Can-Ads will pay the beverage companies a new found revenue stream from 2nd party advertising in the $Billions.

Jordan Richter is an artist in two unique forms. Thriving in both the music world and product development, Jordan takes his work very seriously.

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